Musharraf wants a PPP premier to head a PML-Q Govt: Benazir

Islamabad, Dec 18 (ANI): Former premier Benazir Bhutto has said the Musharraf regime would like the Pakistan Muslim League-Q to win the elections and would want a Prime Minister from her party. But “the PPP will not buy into it,” she added. “They would like to say we had an election, and now, weve got a legitimate government and we have got the countrys most popular party on board,” Bhutto said. “If the opposition parties won the election, they can force the government to remove the restriction that can prevent her or Nawaz Sharif from serving as a third-term Prime Minister,” she said. “It depends on the numbers and also the pressure. It will also depend on whether Musharraf “stays or goes,” The Washington Post quoted Bhutto, as saying. Explaining her point, Bhutto said that if Musharraf stays he is going to need indemnity from the new Parliament against the suspension of the Constitution, which may force him to negotiate the dispute over the third term premiership with the PPP and the PML-N. Bhutto also welcomed Sharifs decision to participate in the elections, and said that it was good for the political process and together they can prevent the government from rigging the January 8 elections. “I said to him if we boycott, there is no need for them to rig the elections because theyll win an overwhelming majority, and theyll get to do whatever they want in parliament. But if we fight, well force them to rig, and if both of us fight, theyll have to rig really big,” she said. Bhutto alleged that the government had set up ghost polling stations, which might secure majority for the PML-Q, but hoped that foreign observers could help “ensure that the ballots dont get siphoned off.” If the observers do this, “itll be a huge setback to their rigging plans,” the Dawn quoted Bhutto, as saying. She said that the government has already planned how to give PML-Q a majority. (ANI)